Shit.
Without thinking, Nick took off across the sand. His already sore muscles screamed as he pumped his limbs, the driftwood and sand of the beach giving way to the stone of the trail as he climbed the slight hill of the hiking path.
“Damn it all to hell!” Emma had sunk down to a crouch, her left ankle clasped tightly in her hands. “That hurts!”
“Let me see,” he started, kneeling beside her. The frozen ground sent chilly fingers through the thick fabric of his cargos, cold enough to make his bones ache. Up close, the scarlet flush on Emma’s pale skin was unnaturally bright, and he knew that she must be freezing. “Come on, now, we need to make sure it’s not broken.”
“Don’t touch me!” Batting his hands away, she scowled. Hissing with exasperation, he held up his hands in surrender, palms out, as she struggled to her feet.
“You should let me check—”
“It’s not broken!” Temper heightened her color, but he could hear the thread of pain beneath the words as she rotated her ankle experimentally, wincing. “Just twisted. Damn it.”
“Let me—” he started, but she silenced him with a hand flung out as she pulled her cell phone from her pocket. He refrained from rolling his eyes, just barely, as she held it up to the sky.
“There’s no reception here.” He patted his pocket, where his own phone was stored. “Unless you let me help you, how do you think you’re going to get home?”
She jutted her chin into the air. The saucy tilt of her head brought her face into profile, emphasizing the kissable fullness of her lips, and for a moment he was distracted enough to stop arguing.
What was it about this woman? What made her so different from all of the others he’d met?
“Then I’ll walk.” Determination on her face, she took a cautious step forward, grimacing when she put weight on her injured ankle, and he felt a strange little flutter in his stomach. This was it, this was why, right here.
Most of the women he’d dated would have let him help with more eagerness than the situation warranted—they’d have used the opportunity to wangle dinner, a movie, an hour in his bed. Hell, they might have even faked the twisted ankle in the first place. This might have sounded conceited if he’d said it out loud, but he figured it was just the truth.
But Emma? The way she’d reacted to him earlier made it clear that she felt the spark between them, too. Still, he’d been an ass, and now she was making him work for it.
It was perverse of him, but he admired her fire.
“So, you have no cell reception. And I’m guessing you started the hike downtown.” Glancing sidelong at him through that fringe of lashes, she pinched her lips together, and he tried to ignore the fact that he thought it was hot. “Your choices are to hike all the way back in those ridiculous shoes, in the cold, or to let me give you a ride.”
She didn’t reply. He watched as her breath puffed from those full lips in white clouds.
He was shocked when she turned as quickly as she could manage and started to limp her way back up the hill.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Huffing with exasperation, he studied her retreating figure. Defiance was written in every line of her body, and he was reminded, suddenly and strongly, of Mike.
It seemed that stubbornness ran in the family. And even if Mike didn’t know about Emma, when he found out, he wouldn’t be likely to forgive Nick if he didn’t do something to remedy this situation.
“I thought southern girls were supposed to be all sweet. You know, like a peach.” Closing the space between them in three short strides—she hadn’t gotten far on her injured ankle—he scooped her off her feet, arms supporting her beneath her knees and arms. “You’re more like a prickly pear.”
“Put me down before I snatch you bald!” She stiffened in his arms, but that just made it easier for him to hold her. Doing an about-face, he started to trudge back down the hill. The gravel lot where he’d parked his car was only about half a kilometer away.
She bucked in his arms. The friction of her body on his sent a bolt of lust through him, and he ground his teeth together as he tried to push the sensation away.
Yeah, there was a spark between them, and if she were any other girl he’d have her back in his bed, forgetting all about the pain in her ankle.
She wasn’t any other girl. She was his best friend’s daughter, and that meant he needed to keep his hands off.
“Damn it, Nick! Put me down!” She wriggled again, and he sucked in a deep breath as her hip bone shifted low…lower than was comfortable for him right that very moment.
“Negatory.” Shaking his head, he hoisted her up higher in his arms, safely out of the danger zone. Still she twisted, never giving up.
He couldn’t quite hold back the sigh. Half a kilometer was going to be a much longer walk than usual.